1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to heating systems, and particularly to an integrated solar absorption heat pump system for cooling, heating, and generating electricity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are being consumed in significant quantities to provide electricity for much of the world's heating and cooling demands. Such consumption can have dramatic adverse effects on our environment. For example, global warming, which can affect much of the world's weather patterns, has been attributed to the significant consumption of fossil fuels. Further, not only is the consumption of fossil fuels dangerous for the environment, it can also be an extremely costly source of fuel for home heating during the winter time or cool the home during the summer time. As such, countries have been spending significant amounts of capital researching renewable energy sources and developing systems that can utilize such renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, to provide the necessary electricity to heat and cool homes and businesses in a cost-efficient manner and without adversely affecting the environment. For example, systems having different configurations have been developed for harnessing and utilizing solar energy through the use of solar collectors and photovoltaic modules, respectively, to produce thermal and electrical energy.
Despite the different configurations that have been developed to harness and utilize solar energy, such systems are often ineffective due to the intermittent nature of solar energy, i.e., periods of high solar radiation (summer time) versus periods of low solar radiation (winter time), which can create disparities between the supply of energy and the demand for it, since these systems cannot properly store the thermal energy harnessed by the photovoltaic thermal collector and the solar collector.
Thus, an integrated solar absorption heat pump system solving the aforementioned problems is desired.